The Dutch Football Association (KNVB) revoked Fitese’s professional license, effectively preventing the club from competing in the 2024-2025 season.
The decision came after Fitese failed to meet critical financial and regulatory requirements, including providing a balanced budget, maintaining a bank account and hiring an auditor. The club announced that it would appeal.
The KNVB’s independent licensing committee communicated this decision to Fitzgerald on Monday, citing the club’s inability to comply despite multiple extensions.
The KNVB stressed that allowing Fitese to participate in the current circumstances would put its continuity at risk, adding that “a longer postponement is impossible due to the approaching start of the new football season”.
In recent months, the licensing committee has repeatedly extended deadlines, first warning on April 30 that the club’s license would be at risk if its financial situation did not improve.
On May 17th, recognizing some positive developments regarding the transfer of shares to an independent foundation, the committee granted Fitese additional time, setting the deadline on June 24th.
There were many media reports about potential new shareholders, however the limited documentation provided by the club was insufficient to meet licensing requirements. This failure also led to the revocation of the license, effective July 9th.